Ninja: Shadow of Darkness

"I guess it was worth my $40.00 bucks at the time."

This is your average action/adventure game developed by Eidos. The game has exstensive quality for one time only,and thats to beat the game. I thought this game was more like an arcade game. There was really no strategy to the game except for beating the bosses and using your weapons wisely. The game was so eagerly waited for by Japanese and American gamers in 1998. Well instead the game wasn't a big excitement. The story was brief and simple. You're a ninja that has to kill demons,other ninjas,animals,samurai warriors,and big bosses that killed your homeland people.

What's extremely familiar is that you are playing Shinobi Ninja and and Ninja Gaiden put into a 3-D context. This game wasn't original or unique from all of the other platform games in 1998. I hated the fact that this game wasn't an RPG. You are in a 3rd person view which shows why this game should've been an RPG. I think this game would've been successful with Final Fantasy if it was an RPG.

The graphics were good for the time of the game and the power that the PSX could generate under. The stages were thoughtfuly created and difficult. The water,trees,buildings,lightning,fire,snow,skeletons,and bamboo were well created. It took quite some time for me to find my way around the stages and the areas. My maind problem was the slowness of the game. I really thought that the stages were huge with exstensive bad guys to beat up. THe fighting physics and the moves were much like Fighting Force,also created by Eidos. I really thought this game lacked a sense of character.

One big thing the game was missing was dialogue and conversation between certain characters. After beating up about 69+ bad guys in one stage,you would at least want to talk to the boss. My main point of this game was to beat it and get it over with. The game wasn't very interesting except for fininding out who the last boss was of the whole game. Quiclky I sold this sold this game after I beat in about a month or less.

Final Judgement-The game isn't a classic or a ''I remember that game''type of game. No one really talked about this game even though Eidos was the only company making these action/adventure games like Tomb Raider,Fighting Force,Legacy of Kain:Soul Reaver,and other games. The game left me bored after beating it. I couldn't get nothing for beating the game.

Buy or Rent:Neither. You can borrow or rent it for a week and forget about it.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/02, Updated 06/18/02